Labeling-machine.



PatentedMar. 25, I902. J. T. WHITEHURST &. F. W. WILD, In.

LABELING MACHINE. (Applicatioh filed May 11, 1900.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(I10 Model.)

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mi NORRiS PEiER 06., PHOTO-LIITHO WASHINGTON w c no. 696,2l8.

Patenfed Mar. 25, I902. D, In.

.1. T. WHITEHURST a. F. w. WIL

LABELING MACHINE.

(Application filed May '11, 1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Modgl.)

- Wnesses THE NORRIS mans w.. mu'Yo-unm wwmm'ou. u. c.

UNITED STATES JOHN T. \VHITEHURST AND FREDERICK l/V. \VILD, JR, OF BALTIMORE PATENT OFFICE.

MARYLAND.

LABELING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 696,218, dated March 25, 1902.

Application filed May 11, 1900. Serial No. 16,276. (No modeld shown and described in Letters Patent N 0;

666,491, granted to the said Charles A. Burt on the 22d day of January, 1901, to which reference should be made.

lVe will first give a general description of the machine, or those parts thereof which are old or to which we lay no claim to invention herein, and then refer specifically to the,

changes and alterations in the machine upon which our present claim to invention is based.

In the description of the machine which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which- Figure l is an exterior side view of the improved labeling-machine. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged top view of a part of the machine. Fig. 4 is a partly-sectional side view of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a crosssection of Fig. 4, taken on the dotted line 00 00.

Referring now to the drawings, A is the frame or bed of the machine, supported by the legs a.

B B are standards, in pairs, erected on the bed A to support the shafts h and c, the first of which is situated at the entrance end of the machine and provided with the crank-handle d, whereby the machine is opera-ted. On the shafts b and c are pulleys (land D, connected by the endless conveyer-belts e. The lower runs of the belts are used to roll the cans to be labeled longitudinally of the machine or from the entrance to the delivery end of'the same.

E is the entrance-runway, a portion only of which is shown, upon which the cans to be labeled are placed.

shafts of which run in slotted stands H.

belt 70 and the pulleys 1; and j, the former and smaller pulley being on the shaft 1). By this construction and arrangement the periphery of the spacing-rollers moves slower than the feed or conveyer belts e, and the cans are therefore separated when under the said belts.

G G are yieldingly-held pressure-rolls, the

object of these pressure-rolls is to keep the lower section of the conveyor-belts tightly in contact with the cans as the same are carried along the bed of the machine.

I I are rails to guide the cans as they pass along the bed of the machine.

J is a tray for holding cement, situated be- The low the bed A and under an opening therein.

The cement used in this tray has to be melted or reduced to nearly a liquid state, and to effect this a lamp K of any appropriate description is placed under the tray and supported thereat by a shelf L, bolted to the legs a. Extending through the tray J is a shaft 1, driven from the shaft 1) by means of the pulleys m and 'n and the belt 0.

M M are disks on the shaft Z, which are par tially submerged in the cement in the tray. The upper limb of these disks is flush with the surface of the bed A.

N is the label-holder, consisting of a plate on the end of a Vertically-moving stem (1, adapted to slide in a sleeve 1", supported by a stationary plate .9, bolted to the legs of the machine. The lower end of the stern qis attached to a strap t, which passes over a'springheld pulley 'u, and serves to yieldingly hold the plate (not shown) of the label-holder between plates 0, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,)

which are held adjustable in position, so as to provide for labels of differentwidths, by means of slotted lugs o and suitable bolts or screws. (Not shown.)

P is a paste-pot supported at one side of the machine, containing a paste-wheel Q 011 a shaft R. S is a pulley at the other side of the machine, connected to the paste-wheel by an endless pasting-belt w on a shaft 0. which shaft is driven from another shaft b through the medium of the spiral gears 0 The shaft b is driven from the shaft 1) by the belt (1 and the pulleys e and f The lower run of the pasting-belt is slightly above the top label, and as the can is rolled over the belt that de vice is pressed in contact with the label and paste applied thereto.

T is a yielding upwardly-curved rubbercoated bed situated in the path of the cans, the oflice of which is to press the labels tightly around the cans during the pasting operation, and at the end of this bed is ablock U, ofsponge-rubber, which presses the pasted end of the label tightly in contact with the can-body.

To effect the folding in of the ends of the label when the same is wider than thelength ofthe can and therefore projects beyond the can-heads, a series of curved folding-blades V (shown in all the figures except Fig. 3) are secured to the lower edges of the plates 0 at the sides of the opening 7 in the bed of the machine, (see Fig. 5,) and which plates are held to the said bed by means of slotted lugs 0 and against each pair of these blades in succession the overhanging ends of the label are brought into contact. When the label comes in contact with the first pair of foldingblades, aportion of the paper cylinder formed by the overhanging label is folded inward, and as the can is rolled forward the second pair of blades turn in another portion of the label, and thus by the time the labeled can has passed all the blades the entire extended portion of the label at each end of the can has been folded inward and flattened down on the can-head, as fully described in Letters Patent No. 613,239, before referred to. The plates A guide the completely-labeled cans to the delivery-runway F.

In the operation of the machine the unlabeled cans are placed on the entrance-runwayand by it delivered to the bed, where they are spaced by means of the spacing-rollers. The cans then receive dabs of hot liquid cement as they pass over the cementtray. They then are rolled along the bed and pick up a label, which is dragged from the stack and has its end pasted by the cans rolling over the pasting-belt. The labeled cans are then rolled to the curled folding-blades,\vhich turn in the ends of the labels against the heads of the cans, after which the cans enter the delivery-runway and leave the machine.

The machine as thus far described contains nothing new and patentable and is in all essential particulars the same as that described in the said Letters Patent, and we will now describe the changes and alterations in and additions to the machine which constitute the subject of the present invention.

In the Letters Patent No. 6l3,239,before referred to, the straight portion of the curled folding-blades which is secured to the bar, whereby the blades are collectively attached to the sides of the opening in the bed of the machine, is at a right angle with the bed. In

the passage of the labeled cans from one pair of folding-blades to the next the label at the corners formed by the junction of the body with the heads is practically in constant contact with the blades until the cans are discharged and the labels at or near to the periphery of the heads become abraded and to a certain extent defaced. To prevent the defacing of the labels, as described, and to fiatten the central portion of the fold more tightly against the can-head, we incline the blades at each side of the opening in the bed so that the two sets approach each other, as shown in Fig. 5. 'By this arrangement of the folding-blades the portion of the label at the corners of the can is only crossed by the folding-blades, while the central portion, which needs more compression to make it lie flat against the can-head, is almost continually operated upon by the blades. It is found that this change in the said patented machine enhances its value to a considerable extent, as any defacing of the labels during the process of affixing them to the cans is held to be a serious defect in a machine. To complete the flattening of the folded ends of the labels to the heads more thoroughly than can be effected by the folders alone, we secure at the delivery end of the flat plates A two vertical rubber-faced rolls B (see Figs. 3 and 4,) which are set closer together than the folding-blades. These rolls maybe driven in any appropriate manner, and in the drawings the shaft of one roll is shown as driven from the shaft- 0 by meansof the spiral gears 0 and each shaft is provided with a spur-gear D and these gears being in mesh with each other the rolls are driven in the proper directions to carry the labeled cans from the machine. It will be seen by reference to the drawings that the cans are free from the conveyer-belts 2 before they pass between the rolls B Consequently there can be no abrasion of the labels by the action of the said belts as the cans are conducted from the machine.

Heretofore it has been necessary in factories using labels which surround only the body of the can, as well as those which cover the can entire and have their ends folded onto the can-heads, as described, to employ two machinesthat is to say, one machine having the general characteristics of that described in Letters Patent No. 613,239, before referred to, and another of the character set forth in Letters Patent No. 666,491, before referred to. The present machine is adapted for the application of either style of label to cans' To efiect this end, we make the plate V which forms a part of the bed of the machine and extends from the spongerubber block U to the delivery end of the machine, removable and. secure to the bar E (see Figs.- 3 and 4,) which is immediately in the rear of the said sponge-rubber block, aseoond delivery-runwayF When the said plate is removed, body -'labeled cans will be discharged from the machine Without being rolled over any part of the bed subsequent to the completion of thelabeling operation.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that to change the machine,which has been up to that time used to apply labels with their extended ends folded onto the can heads, and adapt it for the 'applicationwof body-labels in the same manner described in Letters Patent No. 666,491, before referred to, it is only necessary to adjust the plates which laterally confine the stack of labelsto suit the narrower ones, remove the portion of the bed represented by V? in Figs. 3 and4, and lengthen the bars which guide the cans laterally in their passage to the pasting-belt, so as to extend to the end of the machine.

While the extension of the guide-bars is con-- sidered an advantage, it is not absolutely necessary if theconveyer-belts run alike anddo of the moving cans, the said folders placed inan inclined position with reference to a vertical line in order that their operative parts will merely cross the periphery of the heads and hear more particularly-upon the central portion-of the folded label, substantially as, and forthe purpose specified.

\ 2. In a labeling-machine in which theends of a label extending beyond the heads of a can arefolded inward and to the saidheads by means of folders placed in the path of the moving cans, the combinationofthe said folders with vertically-placed rotating rolls between which the labeled cans arecarried,

in order that the foldsof the label maybe,

flattened subsequent to the folding operation, substantially as specified.

B. In a machine adapted to apply paste to a label and apply the pastedlabel to thebody of a can, and also comprising folding devices situated in the path of the cans as they are rolled along the bed of the machine to fold in to the heads of the cans the ends of the label which extend beyond the heads, the portion of the bed of the machine in the rear of the pasting devices arranged to be removable so that in its removal there is provided an outlet-passage for cans, and arunway leading fromthe entrance end of the s'aid opening,

'substan tially as, and for the purpose vspeci- JOHN T, WHITEHURST. FREDERICIQ V; VILD, JR.

WVitnesses; Y

J OHN W. I-IEwEs, WM. T. HOWARD. 

